Blok
Blok was a corporation which held a complete monopoly of the economy of Quillan. History Blok began as a small retail store in the city of Rune, seven generations before Bobby Pendragon was born. Its business strategy was to sell its inventory at such low prices that it would quickly outsell its competition. At first the store did poorly, but eventually people began to turn away from other retail stores in favor of Blok's low prices. The store began to raise its prices slightly, though it always kept its prices far lower than any of its competitors. People couldn't resist the low prices, and business was booming. As Blok grew, it began to move into other industries, starting with manufacturing and design. Blok created its products as quickly and cheaply as possible so as to ensure that it could make a profit and still sell its merchandise at low prices. Later, the corporation began to build schools and hospitals, moving on to more business sectors as it dominated the ones it already worked in. Before long, Blok faced the challenge of making sure that nobody noticed their rapid takeover of the territory. Their answer was to keep people uninspired and uneducated. Blok schools no longer taught the history of Quillan, and records of past events were gradually erased. Blok even created a monopoly on art, making all sculptures and paintings mass-produced and uninteresting so as not to challenge the minds of their customers. Gradually, as Blok became the most powerful employer on Quillan, the company began to change its policies. Blok started to mark up its prices and cut its wages and employee benefits. People couldn't do anything about this, because a position with Blok had become the only secure job left on the territory. Once Blok had established a total monopoly of all economic activity in its country, it began to expand all over Quillan, offering employment in other countries, and spreading its influence far and wide. Before long, Blok was the sole business on Quillan, and controlled all the money and power on the territory. Organization As soon as Blok had taken over Quillan, it began to reshape the territory to best suit the needs of the business. Blok demolished suburbs and small towns all over the territory, forcing people to move into large cities where the corporation could easily keep an eye on people. The company then assembled a force of Security Dados, ensuring that Blok became the sole enforcer of law in the overcrowded cities. Blok then demechanized its factories and production lines, replacing its expensive machinery with cheap manual labor, even in the tarz, where manual workers were constantly exposed to toxic waste and swiftly died. Blok's headquarters were located in Rune, where the company had originally started, but the Trustees who ran the company lived in massive, opulent palaces on private islands, far removed from the poverty and squalor of large cities. The Trustees maintained ultimate authority over the Blok corporation, and were thus the most powerful people on the territory. Blok faced one final challenge in its dominance of Quillan. Now that it had taken over the entire territory, the people of Quillan had little to motivate them to keep working. Practically all people on Quillan lived in desperate poverty, and it was not uncommon for three or four families to live together in a two-room apartment in the city. To keep people hardworking, Blok created the Quillan Games, which tempted people with the possibility of winning a better life. Blok would send Security Dados to kidnap various people all over the territory, and force them to compete in a series of sporting events as "challengers". Challengers who won would be treated like royalty, but the games were exceedingly dangerous, and all challengers eventually died in action. The games were broadcasted all over Quillan, and people could place wagers on the outcome. A few people who bet on the games would get lucky and reaped large prizes bestowed on them by Blok, but the vast majority of people ended up even worse off. Those who had no money to wager could bet with their lives, or with the lives of their families. If such an individual won, Blok would give them an easier or higher-paying job, a better house, a large amount of money, or one of numerous other prizes. Those who made the ultimate bet and lost would be rounded up by the Security Dados, whisked onto a train, and shipped away to somewhere else on the territory where their talents were most needed. These losers often ended up in jobs little better than slavery, or offered up for medical research. The most unfortunate individuals were sent to the tarz, where they were paid practically nothing and soon died in agony from exposure to power plant waste. Blok vs. the Revival Blok's regime did not go unopposed. A secret underground resistance known as the Revival worked against the corporation for decades. At the heart of the revival was "Mr. Pop", an enormous library containing the history of Quillan, the very thing Blok feared most. For a very long time, the Revival remained very quiet, and it was generally presumed to be a myth by both the leaders of Blok and the people of Quillan. However, the Revival sprung into action when Bobby Pendragon arrived on Quillan and competed in the Grand X. His competitor, Challenger Green, had associated himself with Blok, and Bobby became a symbol of the Revival. He convinced the people of the territory to oppose Blok and stop betting on the Quillan Games. When Bobby defeated Challenger Green in the Grand X, a full-scale revolution erupted all over Quillan, and mobs of people attacked Blok stores, determined to take back the world. However, the Traveler from Quillan, Nevva Winter, betrayed Bobby, and planted a loop in the Mr. Pop library, enabling a force of Security Dados to track down Mr. Pop and destroy the heart of the Revival. The images of the Security Dados destroying Mr. Pop were broadcast all over Quillan, destroying the will of the people to fight, and Blok retained its power, ensuring that the territory would fall into chaos. Category:Companies